Resiliently-tired wheel



I March 16 1926.

E. T. MALLOY RESILIENTLY TIRED WHEEL Filed July 25, 1923,

, Patented Mar. 16, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD '1. MALLOY, OI HAMILTON, OHIO.

BESIIJENTLY-TIBED WHEEL.

Application fled m :5, 1928. Serial No. 858,781.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD T. MALLoY, citizen of the United States, residing at Hamilton, in the county of Butler and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Resiliently-Tired Wheels, of which the following is a speci fication.

M invention relates to improvements in resilientl tired wheels and method of producing t e same. One of its objects is to provide an improved wheel as for instance a. caster wheel having a resilient tire or tread, as for instance of rubber, adapted to smoothly and noiselessly support a vehicle. Another object is to provide improved means to attach the tires to the wheels so as to enable the tires to resist the various circumferential or creeping strains and lateral strains to which they are liable to be subjected and to thereb firmly retain their positions upon the w eels. Another object is to provide an improved tire in which the resilient quality varies in diffcrent portions of the tire, so that those portions in contact with the wheel are more rigid than those portions at the periphery or tread of the tires where the tires contact with the floor or road. Another object is to provide an improved method of attaching resilient tires to their wheels. My invention also comprises certain details and order of procedure, all of which will be .fully set forth in the description of the accompanyin drawings, in which:

Fig. 1, is a side elevation of a wheel and tire embodying my improvements.

Fig. 2, is a vertical section through the same taken on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3, is a sectional detail taken on line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a sectional detail taken on line 44 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5, is a plan 'of a portion of the wheel The accompanying rawings illustrate the preferred embodiment of my invention in which 15 represents the wheel, as for instance a caster-wheel, which ma be wholly or artly constructed of meta. It is preferab e that the rim 16 of the wheel be of metal, and that said rim be provided with a series of teeth or projections 17 and intervening channels or recesses 18 adapted to enga e the inner face of the tire and to interlo. with ortions of the are for ed into said recesses '18, so as. to firmly and prevent displacement of the tire with ref-- erence to the rim.

The teeth 17 and recesses 18 may be of various patterns, but are preferably as shown arranged to dove-tail portions of the tire into the recesses of the rim to more effectually lock the tire to the rim. As

shown the teeth 17 are arranged in two rows,

upon 0 posite sides of a circumferential series 0 recesses 19, into which the material of the rim is forced to more effectually lock the rim in place against lateral strains. If desired however for wheels subjected to moderate strains the recesses 19 may be omitted and the teeth 17 and recesses 18 relied upon to resist both creeping or circumferential-strains and lateral strains. At opposite edges of the wheel where the joint between tire and wheel rim is exposed to view I preferably provide smooth circular relatively narrow flanges 20 which thus provide smooth circular meeting faces for the tire, having a finished a pearance and which offer no projections liable to become engaged with extraneous objects or to break the uniformity of the meeting face or line between the tire and rim. Said flanges 20 also offer resistance to displacement of the tire from the rim due to lateral strain.

I have found it to be very difficult if not practically impossible to attach or anchor a tire composed. entirelv of resilient material to a wheel rim of rigid material. I therefore prepare the biscuit or green and unvulcanized tire material with a plurality of superimposed layers or strata radially of the tire, as for instance an inner layer 22, an intermediate layer 23,-and an outer or tread layer 24. The composition of the inner layer 22 is chemically and mechanically such that when vulcanized it will become substantiall or practically rigid, and firmly dove-tai and interlock with the teeth and projections of the rim to effectually prevent subsequent separation of the tire from the rim except by tearing or grinding it away in detail. The intermediate layer 23 is of a chemical and mechanical nature to be partially resilient in nature when vulcamzed that is more resilient than the layer 22 and less resilient than the outer layer 24. The outer or tread layer 24 is of a chemical and mechanical nature when vul am ed to furnish a relatively more resilient layer than layer 23, and to provide a tough strong resilient tire tread adapted to contact with the floor or other support over which it travels upon a relatively extended surface and to roll over the floor or support practically noiselessly and with slight vibration to the truck or vehicle.

In practice the biscuitor green unvulcanized tire composed of several layers firmly united together in the unvuleanized state is prepared andapplied in a mold or retaining jacket to the wheel rim to which it is to be attached. The green rim is then warmed or gently heated until it becomes sufficiently plastic, whereupon mechanical or pneumatic pressure is applied to force the inner layer 22 of the tire material firmly into the recesses 18 or 18 and 19 between the teeth 17 and between the side flanges 20. The pressure at the same time forces the tire in contact with the periphery of the flanges 20 and molds or shapes the tread and ex osed faces of the tire, while any excess 0 material is forced in a thin sheet inwardly past the side faces of the flanges 20 where it may be trimmed away. The wheel rim and attached tire are now exposed to an increased degree of heat to effect a vulcanization of the several layers of the tire at one operation, whereby the inner layer22 is converted into a substantially rigid material firmly and rigidly iu terlocked with the projections of the wheel rim, and the layers 23 and 24 are converted into resilient tire material each layer 22, 23, and 24 inseparably united to its adjacent layer, and the tire inseparably united to the wheel rim.

The wheel and method of formation herein shown and described are capable of considerable modification without departing from the spirit of my invention.

\V hat I claim is:

A resiliently tired wheel comprising a wheel having a rim of substantially rigid material provided with unbroken peripheral side walls and with dove-tail projections leading therefrom toward the center of said rim and a circumferential dove-tail groove intermediate of the inner ends of said dovetail projections, atire of the full width of said rim having a tire section of substantially rigid material filling said circumferential groove and the lateral dove-tail spaces leading therefrom between the dovetail projections of the rim and in contact with the unbroken peripheral faces of the rim at the sides of the rim, and a tire tread section of resilient material formed integal with said rigid tire section.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my EIHVARD T. MALLOY.

signature. 

